The Jace Chronicles
by bayloo7
Summary: Ever wondered what Jace's life was like before Clary? Well me too, so here are a bunch of stories from Jace's life that were mentioned in the books but never really elaborated on. Some will be from other's POV, but most will be from Jace's. Like The Bane Chronicles, but with Jace.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: All characters belong to Cassandra Clare as do any quotes I use from her books.**

 **Author note: I have done some research on things that happened in Jace's past and these are my attempts at creating them. Each chapter will be different. They will be at different times in Jace's life and won't necessarily be in chronological order. Without further ado, here is chapter 1.**

Chapter 1: My Beloved Falcon

Father has been gone for the past week. He said he was going on another one of his business trips, but he never tells me what he does on those business trips. It's been lonely here in the house by myself. I've had to make food for myself, which isn't something new for me, and I haven't only gotten to speak with father's servants in his absence.

Over the past couple days I've done my language lessons and shadow hunter history lessons by myself. I like to sit in the window of Wayland Manor so I can watch the sky as I read my Latin lessons. Today I've completed my rune lesson and am waiting by the stairs for father to return back home. I remember when he left last week he mentioned something about bringing me a present. The door nob turns and my eyes widen as I try to find the present from my father.

"Dad!" I run over to him with my hands stretched as wide as my 6 year old body will let them and jump into my father's arms.

"Jonothan," he said, pushing me out of the hug, "what have I told you about emotions?" I look down at my feet remembering the long lecture I'd gotten last week.

"I'm supposed to be tough at all times, never showing any weaknesses through emotions." I hope father doesn't hit me this time.

Father smiled down at me. "That's my boy. Now come here and give me a hug."

I grin my hugest grin and jump back into daddy's arms. He swings me around the way I like him to before setting me back down. "Son, I brought you a gift." He reaches behind him and grabs a cage that I hadn't noticed before. It had a bird in it. "This is a falcon, they are raptors, killing birds. They are merciless, the best for fighting and are the shadowhunters of the sky. I want you to train this bird to be a killer, and to do anything at your command. Do you understand?"

I nod wildly, reaching out for the cage. Father got me a falcon and he trusts me to raise it right! This is the best day ever. I can't wait to get started with my new friend.

 **Three weeks later.**

Over the past few weeks I had attempted to train the bird, but had no progress. He made me uneasy, and seemed like he was always watching me with his black pits of eyes. Anytime I tried to reach for the bird he would slash his talons or his beak at my skin and I would bleed. I sat with him through the night, keeping him awake, hoping he would tire of being horrible to me. Father always said that tired birds were easier to tame.

Since I haven't had much progress with the bird, I've spent more of my time learning how to use all of his equipment. It was boring, but at least I was doing something other than adding to my growing hatred for the bird. I had first thought we would be friends, but I'm not so sure now.

As I stare at my falcon, locked safely away in his cage, tears cascade down my cheeks and onto my wounded hands. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. There are various cuts all over my body from the birds sharp talons, but the worst are my hands. They are covered in cuts and dried blood, too painful to clean out right now. I look at my falcon and grow angry, hate filling my heart. Why would my bird, my new friend, hurt me when all I'm doing is trying to teach him?

I had taken him to the training room and tried to command him to do things for me. I even had treats prepared for when he did good, but the only thing he seemed to do was hurt me. I was supposed to keep the bird blind while training him, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I wanted him to know who I was, to see that I am his trainer. Thinking back to my father, I remember him saying not to show my weaknesses. Maybe I should take a different approach with the bird.

And so, I wiped my face clean of all my tears, staring the bird in the eyes, and began to pet him through the holes in the cage. At first he clawed at me, like he'd done before, but I didn't move this time. As painful as it was, I just knew if I kept showing him I was a friend, not foe, that he would calm down. I put some of his food in my palm and stretched it out into his cage, hoping he would eat from my hand, but he only stared at it like it was poison. I had tried this every night for the past three weeks, and tonight was the first night he didn't try to cut my wrists completely.

"Little birdy don't be scared. I'm going to take care of you." Dropping the food in his cage, I began to pet him for what seemed like hours before he tired of clawing and sat down, looking at me with curious eyes. "You can trust me birdie. I won't hurt you." Silence surrounds us, no more frantic cawing coming from my falcon and no more crying from me. This was new for us.

As my falcon relaxed, and the wild fierceness left his eyes, I began to notice his beauty. His feathers were black as night and laid out on his body in a way that was almost elegant. I gave my falcon a treat for calming down and left him to sleep, proud of the day's progress. I fell asleep that night, on the floor next to my falcon's cage, thinking of all the stuff I was going to do with my birdie once he was fully trained. When I'm old enough we can go hunting demons together. He'll be like my sidekick, my eyes in the sky. I'm so happy. Daddy gave me the best gift possible.

After a good nights rest, I went into the day and completed all of my lessons father had planned for the day. My mind was occupied the entire time with thoughts of my bird, and when my lessons were finally finished, I quickly made my way to my falcon. I hadn't been this eager to train him until today. I had a good feeling about today.

When I finally reached him he was sleeping in his cage, but when I got close enough to him his eyes shot open. He was scared at first, but as I started talking to him, he calmed down. It was like he recognized my voice, like the sound made him feel safe.

I filled my hand with his food once again, hoping he would trust me enough to eat. To my surprise, he moved over towards my hand slowly and studied it before eating from my palm. It was slow in the beginning, but he soon began to eat like his life depended on him. I felt his beak dig into my skin once or twice, and knew that I was bleeding, but I couldn't have cared less. My birdie finally trusted me enough to eat from my hand. He seemed much less wild today, so I decided to take him out of the cage, giving him another small piece of my trust.

 **One week later.**

The past week was filled with more progress then all three weeks before combined. My falcon consistently trusted me enough to eat out of my palm and the wild look in his eyes was almost completely gone. I had started him on flying in the training room. He was to fly to certain spots at my command and come back to land on my arm. I remember watching him fly around and looking in wonder at his wings.

They were slim, yet beautiful, and flapped at a speed that was hard to see. He was fast and powerful, absolutely magnificent. All of my hateful thoughts from before vanished and were replaced with my wonder at his beauty. It took several days of commanding him to fly around and land on my wrist until he finally did. I think back on that day when we finally succeeded.

"Good, now come back to me," I yelled as I lifted my wrist toward him. On previous days he would just stare at me like I was dumb, or he would come towards me only to strike at my face. "Right here buddy." I pointed towards my outstretched wrist and stared in awe as he slowly lowered until his talons and wrapped themselves around my wrist. My smile was bigger than my face could contain and I had to hold myself back from screaming out in joy. Instead I pet my falcon and hugged him close so that he knew that he'd done a good job today. I felt his head rub over mine as he put his beak in my hair, and knew that he had started to love me.

I shook back from the memory and stared at my falcon in his cage. I pet him until he sat down at my command, rewarding him with a treat every time he minded. Everything had gotten so much easier with him, like it just flowed. As I opened the cage he backed up, not in fear but out of habit, so I decided to sing him a song to calm him down.

 _Black for hunting through the night,_

 _For death and mourning the colors white,_

 _Gold for a bride in her wedding gown,_

 _And red to call the enchantment down,_

 _White silk when our bodies burn,_

 _Blue banners when the lost return,_

 _Flame for the birth of a Nephilim,_

 _And to wash away our sins,_

 _Gray for knowledge rest untold,_

 _Bone for those who don't grow old,_

 _Saffron lights the victory match,_

 _Green will mend our broken hearts,_

 _Silver for the demon towers,_

 _Bronze to summon wicked powers._

He relaxed soon after the song was finished, so I decided to give him a treat. I want him to know that he's going to be okay. It must be scary being so small, yet surrounded by bigger creatures who make no sense. I thought of my daddy when he was mad at me. He would tower over me with anger clear in his eyes, and all I could do was look up at him in fear. The last thing I want is for my falcon to see me towering over him in anger. I'm his trainer, not someone to fear.

"Today, Mr. Birdie, I'm going to teach you how to strike." Father had set up a dummy human for me to train my bird on. I showed him how to strike and where to aim, preferably the eyes, and so we spent the whole day trying to get it right. After many failures, my falcon finally got it right and I was so happy. I hugged him and felt his beak in my hair, like he was hugging me back. He finally trusts me, I just know he does. Father was going to be so proud at our progress.

I decided that today was the day to show all that I'd done with my falcon to my father. He is perfectly tamed now. He can kill and trusts me enough to do anything at my command. I can't wait to fight with my birdie when I get older. Daddy's going to be so happy with how good I did.

I walked out of the training room and through the long, winding hallways of Wayland Estate. I'd lived here my whole life, so walking around here felt as natural as the air I breathed. I'm so confident and comfortable in my home that I could probably walk the whole thing blind and never get lost.

As I headed up the stairs, I held my falcon close and looked into his loving eyes. I really did good with him, I thought as I reached the second floor and walked in the direction of father's office. When I finally reached the door, I knocked and waited.

After a short silence, I heard daddy's voice, "Come in, son."

I walked into the room to find father seated at his desk, like usual, with his journals open and a pen in his hand. He never let me read those journals, and made it clear that they were off limits to me by keeping them stored on the highest shelf in our library. He looked me up and down, closing his journal and leaning forward with his elbows on the desk.

"What can I do for you, boy?" His gaze was clear and hard, something that would leave a stranger uneasy or fearful, but not me. I could see past the coldness in his expression to the love that hid deep inside him. He may be harsh with me, but I know that he does it out of love.

"My falcon is ready, daddy." The falcon was sitting upright on my wrist, staring at my father.

"Is that so?" He asked. His voice was filled with disbelief as he studied us. He stood and walked closer to us, power in the way he glided over the floor. "Let me see the falcon." He reached his hand out, and I gave him my creation, proud as can be.

He looked at the falcon, raising the wings to examine him and then staring into his eyes some more. After a good minute or two, father raised his hand to pet the bird, or I had assumed he was going to pet the bird. But oh, was I wrong. He wrapped his hand around the bird's neck, resting there for a second, now staring at me. A loud crunch filled the air as my father snapped my falcon's neck.

"I told you to make it obedient," father said, his words were stern. I watched as he let my falcon's lifeless body fall to the ground, hitting with a loud thud. "Instead, you taught it to love you. Falcons are not meant to be loving pets. They are fierce and wild, savage and cruel. This bird was not tamed; it was broken."

Thoughts swarmed in my mind as my father left the room. I fell to my knees, as my eyes filled with tears and the sobs began to rack throughout my body. He had trusted me. I pulled the birds body into my shaking hands. He was my friend, we had plans. I loved him and he loved me. How could my father just kill him like he was nothing.

My heart throbbed as I mourned the death of my bird and a servant entered the room. She looked at me, pity in her eyes, before picking up the limp body of my bird and leaving me to cry alone. My father had always been harsh with me. He's hit me before and I'd always thought he did it out of love, so that I would learn. But now I'm not so sure whether it was out of love or only partially out of love.

Everything around me looked blurry from all the tears, and my breathing was labored. I know that daddy does what he does because he wants me to grow up to be strong, so some of it must stem from love. There is always a motive behind my father's actions. He would only have killed my bird if there was a good reason. I think as hard as I can on why my daddy would do this, and I can only come up with one conclusion.

It all makes sense now. I wipe the tears from my face, breathing out all of the grief left in my body and shaking the sorrow off of me. Tears are for the weak, I thought, and I'm no longer going to be weak. Not after this. I'll never forget what this lesson has taught me. _To love is to destroy, and to be loved is to be the one destroyed._

 **So there was chapter 1! I tried to stick with how Jace told the story in City of Bones, but added some filler stuff in there. Please leave a review and tell me what you guys think. I'd also love any suggestions on Jace stories you guys would want me to write. I have 10 already planned for The Jace Chronicles, but any requests are gladly appreciated.**

 **Thanks for reading and hope to see you guys in Chapter 2, which will be about Jace's relationship with Kaelie.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: All characters belong to Cassandra Clare as do any quotes I use from her books.**

 **Author Note: So, I got the inspiration for a lot of this chapter from an actual quote by Jace in City of Bones. I will leave the quote at the end of the chapter so you guys know what I was referring to.**

Chapter 2: Kaelie, The Hot Waitress From Takis

It was a Saturday night and Robert, Maryse and Max were all in Idris on business for the clave. Izzy was in the kitchen trying to make her 'famous stir fry', which she swore would taste like real stir fry. Not wanting to hurt her feelings, Jace, Alec and Hodge met in secret, so they could make a plan to avoid the so called 'stir fry'.

Hodge and Jace were sitting at the only table in the weapons room, watching Alec pace back and forth. They had secured the door shut so that Izzy wouldn't hear any of their conversation.

"I can't do it," Alec had his hands in his hair, his body screamed stress, "I can't get food poisoning again. I just can't."

"I agree with Alec," Jace said. He wondered if it was possible for every dish she made to cause someone to get food poisoning.

Hodge nodded. "How about one of you two young men go pick up some real stir fry from Takis?"

"I'll do it." Jace volunteered quickly. He didn't mind walking the few miles over to their favorite restaurant. It gave him time to think and observe the mundanes and all of their strange tendencies. But the real reason Jace wanted to go to Takis was because of a rumor. A rumor that they'd hired a new faerie chick to wait tables. He'd heard that she was tall and beautiful, and that was about as much motivation Jace Wayland needed to want to meet her. But he couldn't let anyone else know that, he had to play this off cool.

"You want company?" Alec asked.

Jace stood from the table and walked toward the door, stopping to look at Alec. "You keep Izzy distracted. I'll get the valuables and bring them back here safely."

He left without getting a response back, heading down the elevator and out onto the busy New York streets. Jace decided not to use any glamours tonight because, frankly, he was just too lazy to bother. Not using a glamour was fun, Jace thought. Mundie women could see him, and they clearly liked what they saw.

He knew he was at his destination when the frame of the brick building was in view, the neon Takis sign flashing bright colors. Usually the place had two men outside guarding the door, but today it was just Clancy.

"Hows the business tonight, Clance-dog?" Jace and Clancy had met nearly two years ago. It had been Jace's first time at Takis. He was 13 and, long story short, he almost got into a fight with Clancy. They worked it out and are bros now.

Clancy is an ifrit, a warlock with no warlock abilities, although he surely looks like one. His skin was a deep red color and his hands were squared off into blueish talons. If Jace was any other normal customer, he would definitely be cautious around him.

"We've had better, but tonight's not too dead," said Clancy. He paused for a second, allowing the two to stand there in silence. "Don't you usually have the two dark haired ones with you? Where are they?"

"My siblings decided to stay in. I'm afraid it's just me tonight," said Jace.

"I like the girl, she's feisty."

"I'm not sure if she's the ifrit type, but I'll put in a good word for ya Clancy."

The two men exchanged nods before Jace finally entered the building. It was as bright as it usually was inside, but definitely not as busy. All of the wooden booths were empty, except for one, which was occupied by a werewolf couple. It looked like they were sharing a bloody steak for dinner. Moving his eyes past the wolves, Jace found the back of waitress. She was wearing a pink and white apron and her blonde hair was up in a messy bun.

She turned around and her eyes immediately landed on Jace. Gosh her eyes, Jace thought. They were completely blue, no white or black pupil anywhere, just blue. He flashed his sexiest smile and slid into the nearest booth, never taking his eyes off her. Considering that there was no one else working in the diner tonight, the blue eyed beauty had to be his waitress.

She checked on the werewolf couple before coming over to Jace. The rumors were definitely true. She was slim and very tall for a female, he thought, and her beauty screamed faerie. They're said to be so gorgeous because they are half angel and half demon. The beauty comes from the angel, obviously, and their cunning tendencies come from their demon half.

"Hi," she said, her cheeks turning a light shade of red. "Have you been to Takis before?" She asked, a notebook in hand.

"Once or twice." Jace wasn't sure how he wanted to make her fall in love with him yet. He had a good range of pick up lines running through his head, which he knew worked because he'd used them previously, but for some reason he felt the urge to keep it old school with this one. "Although, I don't remember seeing you here before, and trust me, I'd remember you."

The girl's cheeks grew to a darker shade of red and her lips turned up in a small smile. "Oh, uh thank you…so what can I get for you then?"

"I'm gonna need three orders of your chicken teriyaki with noodles, and one order of chili cheese fries." Jace folded up the menu and handed it over to the waitress.

"Is this a to-go order?"

"Yes, Miss..uh I don't have your name."

"It's Kaelie. And yours?"

Jace smirked. "The name's Jonothan, but you can call me Jace."

"Okay," she smiled and Jace noticed for the first time just how sharp her teeth were, "Your food will be out soon, Jace."

He never went by Jonothan, but he'd found that telling people to call him Jace after giving his full name gave them a sense of power, like they were special. He watched as Kaelie told the cook his order through the small window opening into the kitchen. After a minute or two, Kaelie turned back around and her eyes landed back on his. Jace stretched his hand out and gestured for her to come back over to his table.

"I noticed you guys were pretty slow tonight, so I figured we could talk while my food was getting cooked?" Kaelie nodded and slid into the seat opposite Jace.

"I suppose that would be okay. What should we talk about?"

"You're new here. How did you end up working at Takis?" I figured she could have just gotten work with the Seelie Queen if she wanted to, so there must be some personal reason for her to come here.

"Well, I just..I've lived my whole life in the faerie realm and I wanted to come adventure out in the mundane world. See what all the talk is about."

Jace leaned closer to the girl. "Adventure? Forgive me if I'm being too forward, but if you let me, I could show you a good adventure."

She giggled, leaning forward with her elbows on the table. "Care to elaborate?"

"What would a guy like me," Jace smirked at her, reaching his hand out to put some of her stray hairs behind her ear, "have to do to take a girl like you out on a date?"

"You want to take me out?"

Jace nodded.

"I sense that you are a pretty confident person, so to take me out, I'll need you to prove that you can handle my kind of adventures."

"Try me," Jace said, thinking she was going to make him embarrass himself in the middle of the restaurant or something like that, but he was wrong. She reached into her pink and white apron and pulled out two round pieces of fruit. Plums? Jace thought.

"One is for you, the other for a friend of your choice. I want you to eat the whole piece of fruit and if you make it through the aftermath, then I'll go on a date with you."

A faerie plum. Of course it wasn't a normal mundane plum. Jace kept a straight face so that Kaelie didn't notice that his nerves were sporadic on the inside. He reached over, taking the two faerie plums from her delicate hands and examined them. "So, after I survive these plums, you'll let me take you out?"

"Yes." A man called for Kaelie in the kitchen. She scooted out of the table and made her way back there. She was gone for a couple minutes, allowing Jace to really think about the situation. Eating anything of faerie origin was a stupid idea, or so that's what Hodge taught him during his faerie lessons, but for some reason Jace didn't care.

The girl finally appeared in Jace's view with his order in her hands. She set it on the table as he stood up from the wooden booth. "I'll pick you up tomorrow at 7?" Jace winked as he gathered the food and headed out the door. He didn't see it, but he knew she was smiling as she watched him go.

* * *

The three boys were sitting in the kitchen almost done with their dinner. Izzy had taken her portion of the chicken teriyaki and run off to her room when Jace had shown up earlier that night. She was trying to act mad and hurt, Jace thought, but he knew she was just as happy to have the Takis as the rest of them were. The two faerie plums were safely tucked away on the inside of Jace's leather jacket. He was trying to decide whether he should give one to Alec or to Izzy.

"Well boys, I've got some work to do in the library. Have a good night, and make sure you're ready for training tomorrow." With that, Hodge left Alec and Jace to finish the last of their noodles.

"You don't think Izzy's actually mad at you right?" Alec asked.

"Nah, it's all an act. She would have said something more hurtful than 'traitor' when she saw the Takis in my hand if she was actually mad." Jace thought of all the crazy adventures he'd been on with Izzy and Alec bringing his mind back to the plums. "On a scale of 1 to 5 how much would you say you trust me?"

Alec scrunched his nose up into a million wrinkles. "4.997. Why?"

"I'm hurt." Jace put his hand on his heart and acted like it was breaking, "I figured it'd be at least a 4.999," Jace said. "but that's good enough." He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out the two plums, setting them on the table in front of his brother.

Alec squinted his eyes at the fruit. "Plums?"

"Not just any plums. Faerie plums." The biggest issue Jace had with choosing Alec to be his partner in crime, was the fact that Alec liked to follow the rules. He'd once turned Jace in to Hodge for scaling a 10 story building for kicks. Jace didn't see anything wrong with it, but apparently he had put himself into 'unnecessary danger and was acting stupid'.

"Jace, what in the angel are you doing with two faerie plums?" Alec asked. Jace looked him hard in the eyes and smiled his mischievous smile. Alec, knowing him like the back of his hand, recognized it immediately and widened his eyes. "NO. We are NOT going to eat these. I'm not up for that Jace." Alec crossed his arms, holding his ground. "It's a solid no from me."

 **Ten minutes later.**

The next thing either of them knew, they were both on their last bite of their plums. The whole time they ate, Alec was glaring at Jace, but Jace knew he was secretly enjoying the thrill. After two or three bites into their plums, they could tell something was definitely off about them. They tasted good…too good.

"Okay now what?" Alec asked as they both wiped their faces of the plum juice.

"Now we wai-"

Before Jace could finish, Alec stood straight up from his chair and ran out of the room. Where is he going? Jace thought, and followed him out of the room to the elevator of the institute. When the elevator reached the bottom floor, both boys ran out into the night, ripping their clothes off their bodies as they went.

They were running down the streets of New York under the bright shimmer of the moonlight. Jace didn't really know what was going on, or how he'd gotten naked, but he liked it. He looked over at his brother, who was running next to him, and noticed two prominent antlers sticking out of his head. On instinct, he threw his hands up to his head and to his surprise, there were two antlers sticking out of his forehead as well.

He decided to ask Alec if he knew what was going on, but what said in his head didn't translate out of his mouth. "Brrrruhuummmmmaggger urrghmm sqqueert." Nonsense came out instead and it sounded somewhat wild, kind of like an animal. Alec tried to talk back to him, but the same nonsense came out of his mouth.

The last thing Jace saw before everything turned black was a street sign that read, Madison Avenue. Everything became a blur as the two boys galloped into the night.

 **The next morning.**

The piercing sunlight woke Jace from his slumber. As he opened his eyes, his breathing picked up, and he realized he wasn't in his bedroom. There were trees all around him, and he was laid out on the grass….naked. What the angel? he thought, but then it all came back to him.

His eyes grew wide as the events of his night dawned on him. Damn faerie plums.

 **Two and a half hours later.**

Jace had just finished climbing up the institute and fell into his room through his window. He was thankful to finally have some sort of his dignity back. Getting here naked, and trying to not be seen, had been much harder than he'd first thought it would be. He woke up with none of his gear so he had to do the whole trek home unglamoured. Definitely one of the top 5 embarrassing things he's ever done, Jace thought. He quickly took a shower and made his way to the library, looking for Alec, but he found Izzy instead.

"Hi Jace."

"Have you seen Alec today?"

Izzy looked at Jace. "Oh hi Izzy! Nice to see you too." She said, her tone drenched in sarcasm. "But to answer your question, no. I haven't seen him since-"

"JACE WAYLAND! WHERE ARE YOU?" Alec's voice echoed through the hallways of the institute and Jace's eyes widened yet again. Izzy looked at him questioningly.

"No time to explain. Got to go." Jace ran out of the library and searched the halls until he found Alec. He was in the training room, covered in dirt and butt naked. "Woah there Alec. Put some jammies on." Jace covered his eyes with his hands. "I'm not prepared to go blind this young."

"What the hell did you get me in to last night?"

"It was for the greater good," Jace shrugged.

"Well this 'greater good' better be worth it."

Jace broke out laughing at his brother. "I have a date tonight, so I'd say it was worth it."

Alec raised his eyebrows. "I walked through Times Square naked so that you could date some chick?"

"It was a sacrifice that had to be done," said Jace as he left Alec mad and naked in the training room. He needed to go get ready for his date.

 **That night.**

Jace was dressed in a black v-neck shirt, tight to outline his defined stature, and a pair of jeans. He'd called Takis earlier and had spoken with Kaelie briefly so that he'd know where to pick her up. Now he stood in the middle of the park with a purple rose and a yellow lily in his hands, waiting for his date to appear.

Jace turned around when he felt a tap on his shoulder, and found Kaelie looking at him. She was dressed in a simple green sundress that highlighted the green veins showing through her white skin.

"I wasn't sure if you were a purple rose kind of girl or yellow lily type," he said as he handed the two flowers over to her.

She looked at them for a second, smiling, before they grew so small that she could fit them in the pocket of her dress. Jace wasn't sure how she'd done that, but figured it had to do something with the fey people's connection to nature.

"So I thought we could go to dinner and talk or to a river, catch some fish, and talk?" Faeries were known to like the food of the sea, so Jace knew she'd pick the river option.

"How about I show you my favorite river and you can tell me about your time with my plums?" Kaelie asked.

He chuckled. "After you."

The walk to Kaelie's river was long but worth it. They got to tell each other about themselves and about their childhoods. Well at least, a little bit about their childhoods. Kaelie seemed to grow tense when talking about hers, so Jace didn't push her for the details. Jace left out the part about watching his father get murdered and some other details that he wouldn't want a faerie to know. It is unwise to give faeries a lot of details, because information runs wild through the fey folk.

Jace knew they'd come across the river when Kaelie's eyes lit up and her smile beamed. It was gorgeous, really. They were so deep into the forest, that Jace thought that it was possible he was the first human to ever see this river. The sound of the rushing water filled the air as Kaelie took hold of Jace's hand and drug him closer to the water. It was a striking shade of blue that gave off a magical glow in the dark light of the night.

"So are we gonna catch these fish mundane style or do you have something else in mind?" Jace smirked as he watched her.

"Oh honey," Kaelie's eyes darkened as she backed into the water. "I never do things the normal way."

Fully dressed, the two made their way into the heart of the river. Kaelie's hand was still intwined in Jace's as they laughed at each other. With all of the scenarios Jace had come up with in his heaed for the night, what they were doing now had never come into mind.

He pulled her closer to him so that their bodies were pressed up against each other. The bottom of her green dress moving with the flow of the water. Jace raised his free hand to push her hair out of her eyes. He leaned closer so that his mouth was next to her ear, just barely brushing over her creamy white skin. "Ready to catch some fish?"

She giggled, pushing him back so that she could see his face. As quick and fluid as the movements of a shadowhunter during battle, Kaelie shoved her hand into the river and grabbed a fish, pulling it out of the water to show Jace. "I got mine. Where's yours?" She laughed as Jace's eyes slightly widened.

"H-how did you...ahhh benefits of being a faerie? Nature calls to you." The fish was limp in her hand, but clearly still alive. It was like it didn't care that it could no longer breathe, completely content to die in the faerie's hand. "Here goes nothing," Jace said. Their bodies were still pressed together as Jace tried and failed to catch a fish with his free hand.

"You're attempts to catch fish amuse me. Take this," Kaelie handed Jace her fish and with one simple movement she had another in her hand. "Let us feast."

Kaelie ended up eating hers raw, something the fey people are known to do, but waited to eat until Jace's was fully cooked. Now that they were both full, they sat around the dying fire and giggled as Jace finally told Kaelie about his time on her faerie plums. She was actually surprised that he'd eaten the plums in the first place, and even more surprised that he made it through the night. Apparently they made humans go a little crazy.

Kaelie scooted over so that she was close enough to lay her head on Jace's shoulder. Her touch startled him, but he quickly adjusted and wrapped his arm around her. It was silent between the two for a good while, but it was a comfortable silence.

Jace looked down at her to find her blue eyes already looking up at him. They both smiled at each other, and Jace started to slowly lean down. He moved his body so that he was facing her, and scooted her into his lap. Her legs were on both sides of his body, and her arms were around his neck.

He smirked at her as his left hand moved from her thigh to her lower back and finally up to her neck. Their eyes never left each other as Jace finally closed the gap between them, his lips crushing into hers. The kiss was gentle at first, something new for both of them. Kaelie moved her hands into Jace's hair pulling slightly, surprising him. He smiled against her lips and started to kiss her even harder until the world around them disappeared and it was just the two of them and the sound of rushing water.

 **Back at the Institute.**

Jace and Kaelie had just gotten out of the elevator and were greeted by Church. Jace bent down to scratch the old cat behind the ear and received a happy meow in response.

"Where are Izzy and Alec? Take us to them, Church."

The cat got up ever so slowly, and guided the two young lovebirds to the training room. Church meowed and left after dropping them off. Izzy and Alec were in the middle of fighting each other. By the looks of it Izzy was kicking Alec's butt, but they both stopped when they noticed Jace's presence.

"Alec, Izzy, this is Kaelie. Kaelie, these are my siblings." Jace gestured as he spoke.

"I'm guessing she's the chick that gave you faerie plums?" Alec ran his fingers through his hair.

Izzy crossed her arms over her chest. "Alec told me everything, Jace. What were you thinking?"

Jace just shrugged and Kaelie spoke up. "I didn't think he'd be stupid enough to actually eat them, but in the off chance that he did, I wanted him to have someone there along with him." She paused as all the eyes in the room fell on her. "You can't say it wasn't an adventure though." Kaelie smiled at the three shadowhunters and the room filled with silence.

"This is besides the point, but why are you two soaking wet?" Izzy asked.

Jace looked at Kaelie as she giggled, a huge grin plastered on her face. He grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards the door. "Anyways," Jace said, "I just wanted you guys to meet my new girl. Have fun training."

"But you didn't answe-"

With that Jace left his siblings and took Kaelie up to his bedroom.

* * *

Over the next two weeks, Jace and Kaelie became very comfortable with each other, but they never made anything official. Kaelie was the one who actually suggested that the two just stay friends but share the benefits they would get if they were in a relationship. Jace had agreed, and was slightly relieved. He wasn't really looking for anything serious in the first place. A fling was all he wanted, and Kaelie was perfect to have one with. She was unpredictable and as she'd warned him, was very adventurous.

As the months went by, the two would meet up to go on dates or just hang out for a night. Jace had tried to get to know her a little more, but it was like she had a wall up to conceal her past. He didn't mind though, considering he wasn't one to openly talk about his past either. Most of the time they spent together was full of making out and just being free together.

She wasn't Jace's first, if you know what I mean, but she did become special to him. Not in a way where he loved her, but just someone he could let lose with in a way that he couldn't with his siblings. The time that he spent with her, allowed him to forget all of the baggage that filled up his real life. He didn't have to be Jace: the shadowhunter known for killing a ton of demons, he could just be Jace: the sweet guy known to make girls laugh.

* * *

Two years had past since Jace and Kaelie started their odd relationship. He hadn't seen her in months, and hadn't thought about her in the past few weeks. Someone else, someone who made his heart beat out of his chest, had stumbled into his life.

She was short, stubborn and absolutely beautiful. Her name was Clary Fray, and she drove him to do things he wouldn't normally do. For example, he'd saved her life from a ravenor demon, given her a rune when he wasn't completely sure if it would kill her or save her and they had just been in the City of Bones without an adult shadowhunter to accompany them. Something about her made him see life differently, but he wasn't quite sure what it was. Before, he had just walked around and done the things he was supposed to do, but now it was like everything he did had meaning. Like he was alive in a whole new light.

As he sat across from the beautiful, fiery redheaded girl, he saw a glimpse of his life before her. That glimpse was of Kaelie. Jace slid out of the booth, leaving Clary to talk with his siblings, and walked over to the waitress. Kaelie turned around and pulled him into an embrace right when she noticed it was him.

He breathed in her familiar smells, still as comforting as before, but he no longer felt the urge to pull her closer. Instead, he pushed her away, removing her hands from his golden curls and set them down softly by her side. He looked deep into her blue eyes, and told her all about this new girl.

Jace thought it was odd that Kaelie was smiling at him. I mean, he was breaking off their fling for good, and she seemed…happy. Shouldn't she be pouring a smoothie over his head right now or slapping him in the face?  
"Jace, I will always be there for you. Through anything." She grabbed his hands and rubbed small circles on them with her thumb. "I can tell that this girl is truly special to you just in the way you talk about her. I wish you good luck in love, and hope that we may stay friends."

Jace smiled, happy with how this went and that they could still be friends. "Friends would be perfect. Thank you, Kaelie. This means a lot." Jace removed his hands from hers and turned to walk away, but before he could, Kaelie leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. Something that was so familiar to him, yet felt foreign now.

"Go get your girl," Kaelie said.

Jace walked back over to his booth and slid into the middle of a conversation about downworlders. He looked at Clary and smiled.

 **So there was my take on Jace and Kaelie's relationship. I know I didn't write that many scenes of them actually together. I wanted to show more of how they happened, a little of their relationship, and how it ended. Hoped you guys liked this chapter! The next chapter will be about Jace watching his father's "death" and the aftermath of that experience.**

 **Quote I built off of:** "Don't order the faerie food," said Jace, looking at her over the top of his menu. "It tends to make humans a little crazy. One minute you're munching a faerie plum, the next minute you're running naked down Madison Avenue with antlers on your head. Not," he added hastily, "that this has ever happened to me."

\- Jace to Clary, City of Bones, Ch. 11


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: All characters belong to Cassandra Clare as do any quotes that I use.**

 **Author Note: I've always wanted to read about this part of Jace's life. About the moment when he lost everything. So, I decided to write it myself. Hope you guys enjoy! Also, Merry Christmas!**

Chapter 3: My Father's Death

It was a normal Tuesday in the Wayland Estate. Jonathan, known later in his life as Jace, was just getting into the shower. He'd spent the morning training, as he spent most of his mornings, and needed to get cleaned up before he could start his language lessons. His father had put him on a schedule for as long as he could remember.

He focused on a new language everyday of the week. Latin was on Mondays, Italian was on Tuesdays, French was on Wednesdays, Romanian was on Thursdays, etc. ect. Today he was excited to get back on Italian. He liked the sound of an Italian accent, and enjoyed trying to mimic it even more than he liked listening to it, even though most of the time he sounded more like a mangled cat than an Italian man.

His father had been out on business for the past few days, so it was just Jonathan and the servants in the house. He didn't really talk to them much unless he really needed to. His father insisted that he kept away from them since they were 'the help', but sometimes Jonathan got curious and asked them questions.

Usually his father would tell him a few days to a week in advance that he was going out on business, but this time he left abruptly. There was no warning, just a sudden change of plans. He wondered if it had anything to do with the letter his father had received in the mail earlier that week. Every since it's arrival, his father began acting weird, like he was on edge for some reason. Jonathan shook the thought off, and continued with his language lesson.

" _C'è qualche posto interessante da visitare qui in zona?"_

Hmmm. This ones weird, Jonathan thought, but it's in his lessons book so he must be learn it for a reason. _"Il mio hovercraft è pieno di anguille."_

 _"Dove si mangia il miglior gelato?"_

After the hour of language lessons was over, Jonathan made his way to the library. He liked to spend his free time reading next to the big window that looked over their property. The library was home to a ton of thrilling books for Jonathan to read, and it also housed a grand piano. His father insisted that he played an instrument, so at a young age Jonathan learned how to play.

Jonathan entered the library and made his way over to the piano. He sat on the familiar dark brown stool, laid his hands on the keys, and began to fill the room with music. He wasn't sure what he wanted to play, but after sitting there for a good ten minutes he began to recognize the melody of the song he was playing. It was Debussy's famous 'Clair de Lune'. As he got further and further into the heart of the song, he began to forget where he was. The library started to fall away leaving behind Jonathan, the piano, and the music. He closed his eyes and let the song flow through his hands and into the keys. It was like the piano became an extension of his fingers, a part of him just as much as his eyes or his arms.

He was completely lost in thought, wandering through the possibilities his imagination held. Whatever he wanted to have, wherever he wanted to be was possible when he was playing music. Now, as he filled the library with heavenly sounds, he imagined himself on a mountain. It was high enough that Jonathan could touch the clouds and the mountain overlooked the surrounding land. There was no sight of civilization anywhere near the mountain, just the beauty of nature. Just green trees and blue skies.

Jonathan was unsurprised to find himself still in the library as he opened his eyes and the song came to an end. The beautiful sounds disappeared and it was silent. Despite the fact that he'd barely had contact with anyone else his age, he felt whole. Most normal ten year olds might have felt lonely, or angry that they had no one to play with, but Jonathan was content with his life.

Just as he was getting used to the silence of the room, the door swung open and a servant stepped into view. She had been one of three servants that Jonathan had known his whole life. They never left to see their families, or spoke much about anything other than their duties, which Jonathan found very odd. If he had been in someone else's house for that long, he thought he would actually get to know them, or maybe tell them stories about his life.

"Jonathan. Your father has returned and would like to see you in the training room pronto." This servant was Jonathan's favorite. She had dark hair, pale skin, and bright hazel eyes.

He nodded at the woman as he stood from the stool. "Thank you." He left the room and headed past the kitchen towards the training room. He began to think it was odd that his father was already home from his business trip. Usually he was gone for almost two weeks during those trips.

It was a normal occurrence for Jonathan to train more than once in a day. With nothing much to do around Wayland Estate, he was left to reading, music, and fighting. Jonathan rounded the corner and pushed through the door that opened into their training room. It was spacious and looked like any other shadowhunter training room would. The ceilings went up far enough to reach the height of a four story building. All up the walls were training beams to practice jumping and falling. Last week Jonathan got his personal record in jump height, which was almost two stories high.

He looked around the room until his eyes landed on his father's familiar stature. He was facing away from Jonathan, and was examining a weapon in his hands. Jonathan couldn't quite tell what the weapon was, and before he got close enough to see, his father turned around and greeted him.

"Jonathan. You took your time getting here."

"I came right away."

"I see." He paused, staring Jonathan down with his black eyes. "Do you know what we will be working on today?" Jonathan began to think about mundanes, and how his father's stare would probably make any normal person uneasy, but not him.

Jonathan didn't want to think about training. He wanted to ask his father about his abrupt business trip, or about the weapon that was in his hands seconds ago, but was now gone. Instead he held those thoughts in and went along with the conversation.

Jonathan looked around the room again for any sort of clue as to what he would be training on today. He saw the mats were out, but they were always on the floor somewhere. The rack next to the wall that usually held all of the training room's weapons was completely empty. Hmm, Jonathan thought, what could he be doing that doesn't involve weapons. He looked up at the beams, he could be working agilities again, or he could be hand on hand fighting his father. The options were slim, and Jonathan didn't know what to say to his father.

"I don't know what we'll be working on today." He felt like he was supposed to know what his father was thinking, but he never could read him that well.

Michael smiled down at his son as he walked closer to him. "It's okay son. I didn't make it easy for you to guess our activities today." Jonathan's father extended his hand and patted him on the shoulder in a loving manner. "I'm going to teach you how to fight when there's no weapon in sight."

Jonathan thought back to the weapon he'd seen his father holding only minutes ago. "Like hand on hand combat?" He asked.

"That depends. What would you do if you were in between two demons, but had nothing to fight with?"

"I could jump over one of them and go back for weapons?"

"You could, but then you risk losing the demons." Jonathan furrowed his eyebrows. "From now on I want you to think of it like this," said Michael, "anything and everything in your surroundings can become a weapon if you need it. Your hands, a rock on the ground, a scarf wrapped around the neck of your opponent, anything."

"I just need to get creative?"

His father smiled at that. "Exactly. You need to become quick in all aspects. Think fast. Act faster."

"Okay, let's try this out, father."

Jonathan faced his dad and then both walked in a circle, ready to pounce. His father was a very skilled fighter, so being taught by him gave Jonathan the best training possible for a kid his age. As he watched his father he began to sneak more peaks around him looking for any kind of weapon. The room was bare, just as he'd seen earlier, but there were a few options Jonathan could take.

Jumping up to the beams would make the fight harder due to the whole balancing issue, and Jonathan was very well off on the beams. There were also two mats across the room that could be used as shields or potential weapons, but the best option was currently being guarded by his father's body. The empty metal rack, usually holding their weapons, could easily and effectively be used to hurt an opponent.

Knowing what his chosen weapon was, Jonathan could now advance on his father. He took one step forward, throwing off the circle they had been going in, but Michael quickly read him and kicked Jonathan's foot out from under him. Jonathan then rolled to his right and quickly stood back up before his opponent.

His father took this as an opportunity to hit Jonathan while he was still off balance. Michael threw a punch into Jonathan's gut, which caused him to fly backwards a few steps. He hunched over, trying to regain the ability to breathe as his father walked closer to him.

"Are you going to dance or fight?"

Jonathan, still hunched over, looked into his fathers dark eyes. "You're right," he said as he darted past his father and to the rack. He broke off one of the long rods used for holding axes and maces, and turned to face his father. "How about this?"

Jonathan ran at his father before he had time to react, and used the metal rod to land a hard hit to the side. Michael grunted loudly in pain, but smiled at his son. Caught off guard by his father's reaction, Jonathan stood still and watched.

"Good choice my boy. But another lesson on fighting is you can never see every angle to your opponent." Jonathan furrowed his eyebrows, trying to decipher what his father was teaching him, and it all came clear when the man pulled out a long knife from the inside pocket of his jacket. When Jonathan had first entered the training room his father had been holding a weapon. How had he forgotten?

Michael smiled as he struck out at his son, but Jonathan blocked him with his makeshift weapon. He'd hit his father's wrist with enough force to knock the knife out of his hand and to the floor. Jonathan knew this would be his only opportunity to take down his father, so he swung his metal pole at him as hard and as many times as he could. One blow to the shins had him limping, one to the stomach had him hunching over, and another to the upper back had him on the ground.

Just as Jonathan was about to quit and claim his victory, his father reached out and grabbed the knife off the ground. He spun up from the floor quicker than Jonathan had ever seen him move, and forced Jonathan into a headlock with the knife up against his throat.

"I told you to be quick, but instead you kept swinging." Michael was breathing fast in between words. "You aimed for the weakest spots, which was good, but it wasn't good enough." Michael let his son go and extended the knife out to Jonathan. "What kind of weapon is this?"

"It's a dagger…no wait. It's a k-kindjal," said Jonathan.

"Right. It is one of my favorite weapons, and this specific kindjal is a family heirloom of ours." Michael paused as his son took the weapon into his hands. "I want you to become familiar with it."

Jonathan's eyes ran over the dagger. A small star was carved into the blade and further up the dagger laid a single red stone on the hilt. It was beautiful and resembled a ruby, but the most peculiar aspect of the jewel was that it was in the shape of a rose. Jonathan wondered if this had originally been a romantic gift from one of his male ancestors to one of his female ancestors.

"Do I get to keep it?" He looked at his father with pleading eyes, hoping he would say yes.

He smiled down at his young son. "It's all yours."

 **Four Days Later.**

Jonathan had done his training for the day, and was in the kitchen making a snack he could munch on during his language lesson. He was in the middle of spreading grape jelly onto his sandwich when he heard something odd coming from outside. Jonathan moved to the window quickly and found two men creeping toward the front door of the manor.

The way the two men were moving made Jonathan feel on edge. His father had always told him to listen to his gut instincts, and right now they were screaming at him. Jonathan shoved his kindjal into his back pocket and grabbed a knife out of one of the drawers. He ran up the stairs to his father's office and told him what he saw in between labored breaths.

"Let me check it out. I want you to stay here until I tell you it's clear, okay?" His father was looking at him hard in the eyes, and even though Jonathan nodded in agreement, he knew he couldn't just sit around and wait.

After Michael left his office, Jonathan snuck downstairs through the spare staircase in the library. He made his way quickly to the main stairway and got inside the storage room underneath them. It was the perfect place for Jonathan to wait because he could see through the cracks in between each wooden stair and the front door was right in front of the stairway. He'd ran as fast as he could, and ended up getting in position before his father made it downstairs.

Jonathan could hear his father's footsteps as he finally reached the ground floor and came into view. With a seraph blade in his left hand, his father reached out and opened the front door to reveal two men. One of the men stood out to Jonathan because his hair was bright red. He had never seen either of the men before, but could tell by the scars and the runes that they were fellow shadowhunters. This is good…right? Shadowhunters are supposed to have each other's backs, so what could really go wrong?

"Who are you and why are you at my Manor unannounced?" Michael's grip on his weapon tightened as one of the strangers, the one with red hair, smiled at him, a smile that sent shivers through Jonathan's spine. He could be wrong, but it almost seemed like the man wasn't staring at his father, but staring right at him.

Silence filled up the small entryway giving Jonathan the feeling that something could, in fact, go very wrong. Without any sort of response towards his father, the two strange men advanced on Michael fast enough to catch him off guard. The red headed man slashed across his chest with a dagger he'd been hiding, and the other man kicked his knee hard in the side. Michael fell to the ground, loosing his weapon on the way down. As he fell, he twisted backwards grabbing at the stairs to steady his balance, but froze as his eyes landed on his son's.

Jonathan watched as his father got overtaken by the two intruders, and he bit his tongue to keep from crying out. After his father had locked eyes with him, it was like he quit fighting. The two men just beat him senseless, and it looked like he let them. If his father could be taken down so easily by the men, then Jonathan had no chance. Michael's eyes widened to the size of grapefruits as the men pulled him back and slit his throat. Jonathan looked down to find a pool of blood forming around his shoes. It was his father's blood leaking through the gaps in between the stairs.

Jonathan watched as the men laughed in victory, letting his father's body fall down to splash in his own blood. The two men left quickly after they'd finished the murder, but Jonathan didn't move an inch. He wanted to get out of the storage room and run over to his father's lifeless body. He wanted to chase after the two maniacs responsible for taking away the only thing in his life that mattered. Jonathan wanted to do a lot of things, but all he seemed to be able to do was stare into the eyes of his dead father as his blood painted the floors.

 **An Hour Later**

In the hour after his father was stripped from this world Jonathan grew numb. He'd cried a little in the beginning, but soon ran out of tears to shed. It was like he was staring at Medusa, and had been turned to stone from her gaze, but instead it was his father's eyes who made him so still. The thought of getting out of the storage room and walking over to his father's dead body made him gag. The whole day seemed unreal, like a living nightmare.

As Jonathan went through everything in his head, yet again, he became aware that his lower half was soaking wet. His father's blood had traveled under the stairway and to his body where it proceeded to soak his pants and shoes. Jonathan looked down at the dark liquid and instantly got sick. He kicked the storage door open and jumped out of the small room just in time to vomit up his breakfast.

The front door was still open allowing fresh air to enter the house. Jonathan breathed in the air and closed his eyes, pretending that nothing bad had happened. He wondered why it was so easy to convince yourself of things that weren't true. All he had to do was close his eyes and imagine his father was still there, training him or lecturing him on some sort of worldly business, and after a while of imagining, it felt real.

But Jonathan knew that he would have to face his father's death, because the truth doesn't hide from you. This truth was like a slap to the face that would taunt Jonathan for the rest of his life.

He got up slowly from the floor and made his way to his father's body. First he saw the feet, and then the rest of Michael's limp self came into view. He felt a single tear cascade down his cheek and onto the pool of blood. Jonathan knew his father was dead, but before he made a call to inform the Clave he wanted to check his pulse. So, he stepped back into the blood and turned his father over towards him. His black eyes were still open, staring into his soul. He closed his father's eyes and then leaned down and placed his fingers upon his neck only to find death. No pulse, just death. He took in another deep breath as he stepped over the body and headed up the stairs.

The only way to reach the clave was to send word with magic or a bird. Luckily, Jonathan's father had a falcon trained in fighting and following many other orders, like sending messages. He walked into his father's office and scribbled down a recount of his father's death, folded it up and walked over to the falcon's cage.

After Jonathan sent the bird away, he went and sat down on the bottom two stairs, and stared at his father's body. He knew it would take a good hour or two for the clave to receive the message, and then it would take a while for them to decide what to do and finally send people out to his manor. So, Jonathan would have time to engrain his father's face into his mind before he would never see it again.

 **Meanwhile, in New York…**

Robert Lightwood sat in the library holding a note from the Clave in his hands. He opened it quickly, wondering why they would be sending him a private letter. As soon as he started reading, he felt the breath seep out of his lungs and his blood rush to his feet.

 _We regret to inform you that Michael Wayland has been murdered in his house this morning. You, being his parabatai, must already know this. We have sent you this letter in the hopes that you will take in his young son, Jonathan Wayland…_

Michael is dead? Robert hadn't felt him die, but then again that must be because of the Clave's punishment on him for being in the circle all those years ago. That punishment took a lot from him. Still, Robert felt like he was letting down his brother, his parabatai, for not even noticing his death. Usually when one parabatai dies, it's like a piece of the living one dies with him, but for Robert it's like nothing happened. He couldn't help but to feel bad for not sensing anything, not even a tiny fragment of pain for Michael's death.

Robert knew in his heart that he had to take in Michael's son. If he had been the one to die, he knows Michael would have raised his kids. So, Robert made his way through the institute until he found his wife.

"Maryse," he extended the letter out to his wife, allowing her to read it. She looked up at him as soon as she finished reading the letter, sorrow filling her eyes.

"We can't leave the poor boy with strangers," she said.

Robert nodded. "I'll send word back to the clave to send the boy our way. Will you go explain everything to the kids?"

"I will, but Robert…are you okay?"

He hadn't let himself think too much about his best friends death, not yet. Emotions weren't something he was good at processing, especially ones like grief. "I'll be fine." With that, Robert walked away from his wife, struggling to hold back his tears.

 **Back at the Wayland Estate.**

He wasn't sure how long he sat on those stairs looking into the eyes of death, when he finally felt a nudge on his shoulder, shaking him out of his trance. Jonathan looked up, backing away from the man fast. When he realized it was someone from the Clave, he felt his shoulders relax. The man was young, probably in his mid twenties, and was looking down at Jonathan with worried eyes.

"Oh, good. I was beginning to think you'd gone unresponsive," said the man.

What does he mean unresponsive? "H-how long have you been here?" Jonathan looked around the room and saw two other shadowhunters checking out his house. They were taking notes on everything in the room so they could start an investigation.

"We got here about ten minutes ago. I think you're in shock, kid." The man paused as Jonathan took in the new information. He must have been so lost in thought looking at his dad that he hadn't even noticed when they came in. "Come on, let's go pack up your stuff and get you out of here."

Jonathan led the man up the stairs and to his room. He packed everything up quickly and headed out of the house with the man. Jonathan had never really been around other shadowhunters except for his dad. He'd briefly met a few, but it was never long enough for him to get to know the people.

Now, as he walked away from his home, from his father's body, all he could think about was trust. How could he put his trust in his own kind when two shadowhunters were the reason his father was dead? No. From now on, Jonathan would be very picky with who he put his trust in. He was going to stay weary of people he didn't know well. After all, the only person he knew he could 100% trust was himself.

"Where are you taking me?" Jonathan asked. He knew they were walking to Alicante right now, but he had no clue who he'd be living with from now on.

"We received word from your father's parabatai. He and his wife agreed to take you in." Father had mentioned that he had a parabatai once, but he didn't tell me much about him. "They have kids your age too."

They walked the rest of the way to Alicante in silence until they were standing in front of the portal in the Gard. Jonathan looked up to the man, who reassured him everything was going to be okay, but he didn't need to be reassured. Yeah, his father was just murdered in front of his eyes, but Jonathan was stronger than his ten year old self looked. His father raised him to be strong, to be a leader, and he was ready to show that to the world.

As they stepped through the portal, Jonathan had to hold onto the man because he had no clue what to picture in his mind. He definitely wasn't planning on getting sent somewhere random, so he just closed his eyes and waited to land in America. Their time in the portal was shortly over, and they were both standing in front of an old looking church. They made their way inside, up an elevator and into a dimly lit hallway.

A man and a woman had been waiting for them. Jonathan assumed the man must be his father's parabatai. The Clave member walked over and talked with the adults before patting Jonathan on the shoulder and leaving him with the strangers. It was silent for a good minute or two. During that time they were all looking at each other. The two adults looked from Jonathan's face down to his blood stained pants and shoes, and their eyes widened. The last person to look at him with wide eyes was his father moments before he bled out.

"Jonathan, it's good to finally meet you. I'm Robert and this is my wife Maryse." The woman smiled at him, and Jonathan gave her a nod. "Let's show you to your room and if you are up to it you can come meet our children."

"Okay," Jonathan didn't know how to be around these people yet. They seemed nice, loving almost, which was weird because they didn't know each other in the slightest.

The institute was huge. There were several long hallways filled with spare rooms for shadowhunters in need. Jonathan had never been in a real institute, let alone away from his home by himself.

"Here's your room. What do you think?" Robert asked.

Jonathan looked around taking in the entire room. There was a window over looking the trees next to the institute. A twin bed with white sheets was pushed up against the right wall. The closet was small, but not bad at all, and there was a door at the back of the room leading to a private bathroom. It was nicer than he'd thought they'd put him in, but nothing like his big room back at the estate.

"It's nice. Thank you," he said.

"Why don't you get washed up and then we can have dinner?" Maryse leaned down as she talked to him, as if he were much younger than he is. He thought the action must be spurred from pity. Pity was the one thing Jonathan didn't want. Yes, he went through something terrible, but pity made him feel small. It made everything feel worse than it truly was.

"I'm not sure how to get to the dining room, will someone show me the way after I've showered?"

"I can wait here for you," said Maryse. He had never had a mother, so he wasn't really sure what they were supposed to be like. His father always told him that women were hard to understand and very emotional.

"Thank you." With that, Jonathan grabbed a fresh pair of pants and a black t-shirt out of his bag and cleaned himself up. He wondered if he'd ever get his father's blood completely out of his pants and shoes or if he should just burn them.

The shower was definitely needed, and eased his tense muscles a bit. He got dressed quickly and went back in his new room to find Maryse holding the kindjal that his father had given him. It was still in it's sheath, so all she was really looking at was the red jewel on the hilt.

"It was a gift from my father." Maryse jumped at the sound of his voice. She clearly wasn't expecting him to be done so fast.

"I wasn't meaning to snoop. I just saw the jewel and it caught my eye." She set the knife down on top of Jonathan's bed and walked over toward his door. "Come on, I bet you're hungry."

She was right. Jonathan had barely eaten anything today. He had vomited all of his breakfast after his father's death, so technically he'd eaten nothing today. "How many kids do you have?"

The woman looked down at Jonathan, and for the first time he noticed her blue eyes. Her dark hair made them pop out like a puppy in a litter of kittens. "I have two boys and one girl. My eldest son is only two years older than you and my daughter is your age. Our youngest son is only 3 years old."

"How do you make time for all of them?" Jonathan was genuinely curious on this. It seemed like his father barely had time for just him, let alone three of him.

Maryse smiled down at Jonathan. "They're my world. I'd give every second of my life up just to spend time with them." He looked at her hard, trying to figure out if she was being serious, and it looked like she was.

They walked the rest of the way in silence until they finally went through a door with a huge archway and were suddenly immersed in the smell of stew. Jonathan looked around the room. His eyes first landed on the round table in the middle of the room. Robert was sitting there with three dark haired children. They all looked at him with curious eyes as he continued to take in the rest of his surroundings. It looked like there was a door in the back, probably leading to the kitchen, and there was only one window in the room. On the wall were paintings of past shadowhunters and a few of Idris. Maryse ushered Jonathan over to the table, and they both sat down. Robert was the one to break the thick silence.

"This is Jonathan, Jonathan these are my children," Robert gestured with his hands as he talked, "the little one is Max, then there's Isabelle, and lastly Alexander."

"Daaad." Isabelle whined. "I go by Izzy for my friends, so you can call my Izzy."

"Does anybody else want Jonathan to call you by a nickname?" Maryse asked.

Alec looked at Jonathan and smiled. "You can call me Alec."

"Nice to meet you both," said Jonathan.

"What about you Jonathan? Don't you have a nickname?" Izzy asked. Everyone at the table looked to him and he thought on it.

"No, it's just Jonathan." He could go by Jon, but that didn't feel right to him.

"Well, do you have a middle name?" Asked Maryse.

He thought on the question for a minute. His father had never told him directly about his middle name, but once he'd come across it in one of his father's journals. There was a bunch of nonsense scribbled in there, but the one thing that made sense were the words 'Jonathan Christopher'. His middle name. "My full name is Jonathan Christopher Wayland." The boy spoke a confident power in the tone of his voice.

"J.C.W," Maryse pondered for a second before her eyes lit up and she spoke again, "What if we called you Jace? It would come from your first and second initials, J. C."

Jonathan looked around the table at everyone's eyes as he thought of being called Jace. Izzy was smiling at him like a child on Christmas, Robert was smiling softly, Alec shrugged and baby Max was attempting to play the drums on the table with his tiny hands. Jace. The name has a nice ring to it, and Jonathan liked how it sounded with his last name. Jace Wayland. ' _Hi, I'm Jace Wayland and I'm here to avenge my father's death', h_ e thought.

"I like it." His life had already turned upside down, so what damage could another change do? "You can call me Jace Wayland."

* * *

Dinner had gone well after Jace had gotten comfortable with everyone. They were all very nice, and even though his guard was up, he could see himself trusting them all one day. One thing he found odd about them was that they smile a lot. Instead of just shutting their mouths after speaking, they smile. Like it's their natural relaxed facial expression.

He'd gone back to his room shortly after they'd all finished their stew. Maryse had started it earlier that day, and if having a mom meant eating food that good, Jace knew he'd get used to having a mom in no time. When he'd returned to his room he'd spent around ten or twenty minutes unpacking his things and rearranging the place to best fit himself. While he was in the middle of folding his shirts for the second time, he heard a knock at the door.

Isabelle stood in the doorway with a small smile plastered on her face. "Whatcha doing over there?" The girl walked over to Jace and saw that he was folding up his clothes.

"I'm just organizing my stuff."

"If you want, I could organize your room for you. Paint it or rearrange it or something."

Jace glanced up at the girl expecting to find Maryse's blue eyes in her daughter, but instead they were dark brown. "I think I can handle it. Thanks though."

Izzy furrowed her brows. "Or we could just talk," she sat down next to Jace and began to twiddle her thumbs, "about anything you want or that you think could make you feel better."

This time, Jace stopped folding to look at the girl. "Why do you think I need to talk?" His tone came out strong and powerful, like it usually did.

Izzy looked taken off guard, like she was expecting Jace to say something totally different. "My-my mom told me what happened to your-"

"I watched him die, but he brought me up to be strong. I'll be fine." He made sure to enunciate the last three words so she knew that he wasn't some fragile little puppy.

"Okay. I'll leave you to your folding then."

 **Three Days Later**

Jace had spent most of his time with Alec. He hadn't seen Izzy much at all since his first night in the institute. It was almost like she was avoiding him or something. Alec had helped him get familiar with the long hallways and had showed him where their music room was. Jace knew he'd be spending a lot of time in there, and the only place he needed to find was the library.

"What were your friends like back in Idris?" Alec asked.

They were on their way to the library to meet with Hodge. Jace hadn't talked with him much at all and needed to show him what he knew so they could get a lesson plan started. "I didn't have any friends back home."

"Wait, like none?" Alec was very surprised.

"It was just me and my father. I've never really met anyone my age before, or at least known them for this long."

"Wow. That's crazy Jace." Alec stopped walking as they came up to a big door. "Well we're here."

The boys went into the library and talked with Hodge about Jace's knew schooling. The old man was very impressed with everything Jace knew, and so was Alec. Apparently he was a couple years ahead of both the Lightwood siblings. They must have been slacking or something, because it wasn't like his father had made him an extra hard schedule…or had he?

Once they were done with Hodge, the two boys left and started talking about fighting. When they'd gotten about halfway down the hallway, Izzy appeared. Her dark hair was hanging down in two long braids. "Hey Izzy," Jace said.

"Boys."

Alec rolled his eyes at his little sister and turned to Jace. "You wanna go train?" His bright blue eyes had turned to excitement as the word 'train' left his lips.

"I could train all day long. Let's do it."

"I wanna come training with you guys." Izzy was smiling at the boys, but her smile quickly disappeared when her brother spoke up.

"Izzy, I don't think you could keep up with us men," Alec taunted.

The excitement in her eyes dropped and her lips tightened into a fine line as she turned to walk away. "Izzy wait," Jace spoke before she even walked two steps in the other direction , "Come train with us. You could probably whip Alec's butt anyways."

The girl turned around and smiled brighter than she ever had at Jace. She skipped over quickly, wrapping her hand into Jace's and pulled him toward the training room. Alec followed behind them, slightly upset that Jace had allowed his sister to tag along during their bro time. He'd get over it later.

 **Later.**

After training with his new acquaintances, Jace took a quick shower and headed to bed. It wasn't long before he fell asleep and started having horrible nightmares about his father's death. He kept seeing it all happen over and over again, but each time right before Michael would die he'd tell Jace to save him. He'd beg Jace to save him, and that's what made the dream so horrible. Jace couldn't save his dad. He couldn't do anything but watch.

 **Maryse's POV**

From the first day Maryse became a mother she could no longer sleep through the night. Usually two or three times every night she would randomly wake up and have the urge to check on her children. Tonight was like any other night except there was a new child who she barely knew. Even though she did barely know Jace, she felt the need to protect him from experiencing any more horrors in his life.

As she walked through the hallways of the New York Institute she thought of Jace's life before his father's death. He seems so cold, so serious for a child his age. She was expecting to meet a young broken boy, but instead she met an oddly strong child considering the circumstances.

Max, Alec and Izzy were all soundly asleep when Maryse checked on them, so now she had only one left to go. As she came up to Jace's bedroom door she knew something was wrong. She opened the door to find Jace rolled up in a ball, sobbing.

Maryse moved to him quickly, her motherly instincts kicking in telling her to hold him until he calmed, but he was still asleep. Sorrow filled Maryse as she wondered how horrible something had to be for it to infiltrate one's subconscious and affect them in their sleep. The thought of this being one of her own children made her nauseas.

Not wanting to wake the young boy up, Maryse gently ran her hand over his cheeks to wipe away the tears and began to sing him a song. It was a French Ballad she'd often sing to Alec and Izzy when they couldn't sleep at night, or when they'd had awful nightmares. It was the same song her mother had sung to her as a child. It was a song that hit her deep.

The further she got into the melody, the more Jace calmed down. She continued to sing even after he stopped sobbing and began to sleep calmly. Leaving him alone here just felt wrong. So, Maryse stayed by Jace's bed most of the night humming to him as he slept until the morning light finally crept through the window. She took this as a sign to leave so that he could wake up without someone he barely knew watching him sleep.

Over the next two months this would become a common night routine for Maryse. The lack of sleep noticeably affected her during the day, but she kept singing to Jace anyways. She felt like this was the one way she could help Jace heal. So, she sang until one night she walked into his room like usual, but she found him soundly asleep. There were no sobs, no screams and no tears. Even though it was little, she felt good about making his nights easier on him. The poor boy was going to have a hard road ahead of him.

 **Half A Year Later**

Although Jace lost everything, he also gained everything he would have never thought he wanted. Jace not only gained family, but he found a determination to find his father's killers. He would keep the image of their faces ingrained in his head, ready for when the time came to avenge his father. The pain of Michael's death was as strong as it had been the moment it happened for Jace, but he was coping. As he moved further and further away from the worst moment of his life, he began to explore. He made two new best friends, he became a brother, and he learned what it was like to call someone mom. He found a new life and prepared for what was to come.

 **Alright, there was my attempt at writing Jace's experience on his father's death. It turned out way longer than I expected, but I'm happy with it. My favorite part was Maryse's small POV section. I believe it was briefly mentioned in City of Ashes after the fight on Valentine's ship. I just loved how it gave the readers a little glimpse of her motherly relationship towards Jace, so I wanted to add it in.**

 **I hope you all liked my take on this short story and would love it if you guys left your favorite parts in the reviews! See you hooligans next time! Happy holidays everyone!**

 **PS. The next chapter will be about Jace and Izzy and the time they briefly looked into making their relationship romantic.**


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